If you didn't see Jon Stewart's hosting of The Daily Show on Monday, it was wonderful. He had a blunt, scathing and hilarious takedown of Sen. Robert Menendez's corruption trial -- which he then followed with an equally blunt, scathing and hilarious look at political corruption in general. Here's the video --
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Last week, for logistical reasons, Jon Stewart did his Daily Show show on Thursday. If you didn't see it, his "news recap" section was very funny (as well as pointed). As they write, he deals with "the media's obsession with Trump's hush money trial, while the GOP freaks out over Biden's new energy efficiency standards and a name change for the Boy Scouts. Meanwhile, Biden slows the flow of weapons to Israel, and after Trump shames Jewish Biden supporters, the Best F**kin' News Team stops by to give Jon a guilt trip." Here are a couple of videos that are offshoots of Jimmy Kimmel's "Celebrities Read Mean Tweets About Themselves." This from his show is Celebrities readings real texts from their moms. This first has gems from Kristen Bell, Will Forte, Anna Farris and more. And here's a sequel. Including, as you see below, a tweet from Gwyneth Paltrow's mother, actress Blythe Danner. And another with Elle Fanning, Emily Blunt and...well, again, more. I'm still a bit bewildered that for all of the years I’ve been posting videos on Mother’s Day -- and for all the mentions and videos I’ve posted of Mike Nichols and Elaine May -- that I never thought of posting this. The two did a lot of mothers sketches, but this might be their classic. And happily, there’s not only audio of this from their stage show, but there’s actually video of when they performed it on TV. Interestingly, the premise came from a phone call that Nichols actually received from his mother, where she began, “Hello, Mike. This is your mother. Do you remember me?” Almost better is that even with that as her greeting, he cut the phone call off quickly and said he had to call her back – because he immediately called May to say he had the premise for a comedy sketch. Which became this -- If you didn't see Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on Sunday, the Main Story was on libraries. Yes, libraries. The focus is the attack on public libraries, starting with banning books, relocating books and outcry from the far-right. It's a very interesting and extremely serious story, and clearly one, as well, that lends itself to a lot of wonderful humor. In our continuing, albeit periodic series on Nichols & May, this may be one of the more famous of Mike Nichols and Elaine May’s most famous early sketches. And being early, it might not be as well-known as some of the later one's. It’s a couple of teenagers parked on a date, as the raging, but nervous hormones of the boy battle with the equally nervous rectitude, but interest of the girl. It’s worth noting one joke in the piece that Nichols later used when directing The Graduate, when an uncertain Benjamin has his first tryst with Mrs. Robinson, and tries anxiously to figure out when to make his move. He finally dives in, and you'll see where that joke came from here. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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